Sharh Sunan Abi Dawud lil-Ayni
- Author died
- 855 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Rushd
Sharh Sunan Abi Dawud is an incomplete hadith commentary on Sunan Abi Dawud by the Hanafi jurist and hadith scholar Badr al-Din al-Ayni (762–855 AH / 1361–1451 CE) .
Composition and Scope
Al-Ayni commenced writing the commentary on the first of Muharram 805 AH and completed its first volume on 3 Rabi al-Awwal of the same year . He noted in the introduction to his commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari, Umdat al-Qari, that worldly obstacles and overwhelming preoccupations prevented him from completing the work . The text covers the Book of Purification (Kitab al-taharah), the Book of Prayer (Kitab al-salah), the Book of Funerals (Kitab al-jana'iz), and most of the Book of Zakat (Kitab al-zakah), ending at the chapter on abrogation (Bab fi al-naskh) with hadith number 1698, or according to other descriptions at the chapter on stinginess (Bab fi al-shuhh) .
Al-Ayni read the text of Sunan Abi Dawud, excluding the sections on funerals and zakat, to his teacher Taqi al-Din al-Dajawi, recording that his audition concluded at the end of the Book of Prayer on Friday, 29 Jumada al-Ula 806 AH .
Method and Sources
In his manuscript, al-Ayni designated the base text of Sunan Abi Dawud with the letter sad (ص) and his commentary with the letter shin (ش) . His commentary generally offers a concise explanation of Abu Dawud al-Sijistani's chapter headings (tarajim) and devotes significant attention to the study of chains of transmission (isnad) . He provides biographical details for the narrators and cites the evaluations of earlier hadith critics without adjudicating between their differing verdicts . When he could not immediately recall an explanation or a narrator's biography, he occasionally left blank lines in the draft to fill in later .
Al-Ayni clarifies difficult vocabulary, supports his lexical interpretations using variant narrations, extracts legal rulings, and discusses the arguments of jurists, displaying a clear alignment with his Hanafi school . For hadith cross-referencing (takhrij), he predominantly limits his citations to the Six Books, the Muwatta, the Musnad, and the Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shaybah . Unlike the opening sections of his Umdat al-Qari, he does not place heavy emphasis on rhetorical analysis (ma'ani, bayan, and badi') .
Manuscripts and Publication
The primary surviving witness is an autograph manuscript preserved in the Egyptian National Library (Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyyah, No. 286 Hadith) in two volumes . The first twelve folios are missing, causing the preserved text to begin with the twelfth hadith of Sunan Abi Dawud under the chapter on dispensation regarding facing the qiblah when relieving oneself (Bab al-rukhsah fi dhalik) .
The surviving portion of the commentary was edited by Abu al-Mundhir Khalid ibn Ibrahim al-Misri and published by Maktabat al-Rushd in Riyadh in 1420 AH / 1999 CE in seven volumes, comprising six volumes of text and one volume of indexes .
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